The New Kid
by ASilenceApart
Summary: Sunnydale with a twist. I suck at summaries. Buffy never was a slayer. Faith is the only slayer. Enter the new kid. Yeah, I really suck at summaries.


So. I own nothing. 'Cept Maron. And the plot. 'Cause really, who else could come up with something like this? Yes, this is very AU. Yes, I've re-done this chapter about 14 times. Yes, this time there is actually more chapters. Read. Review. Please.

**Chapter One**

Faith stared across the empty desk and out the window of her history class. From where she was seated, the slayer had a perfect view of… nothing. The student parking lot was filled with the usual cars, and the road past it was motionless. The brunette sighed, turning back to face the teacher who was droning on about some war. With a roll of her eyes, Faith glanced over at Cordy, only to find her scribbling something across a piece of paper. But there was no way Queen C was taking notes. The slayer's assumption was confirmed when the paper was folded and handed to her. Opening it up, she read the question:

_We're heading to the Bronze tonight. You in?_

Faith scrawled a message back:

_Who's all gonna be there?_

Cordelia rolled her eyes and flung her hair over one shoulder before replying:

_Everyone. Me, Buffy, Harm, Rhi and Ambrodesia... and you, if you're coming._

Faith scanned the note and nodded to Cordy who smiled in return. The slayer crumpled the paper into a ball and tossed it back to Cordelia who in turn handed it to Buffy. With an evil grin, the blonde hurled it across the room so that it bounced off Willow's head. The red head gave no reply, merely burying herself deeper in her hair as Xander turned to glare at the trio. He faced front abruptly though, when the glare was returned by Cordy and Buffy. A few giggles spread throughout the class at the proclaimed nerds' predicament, although most didn't wake up long enough to notice.

The class droned on uneventfully until about twenty to ten. A loud roaring filtered through the open window, waking the twelfth graders and earning a 'what the…' from the teacher. All eyes were on the road as a motorcycle flew down it, screeching as it turned into the parking lot and pulled into an empty stall. Kicking the stand into place, the rider got off, slipping the keys into a pocket and sauntering into the building. They wore no helmet, allowing the sun to glint off a pair of black sunglasses, which, of course, added to the whole mysterious stranger deal. The class lost sight of the rider as they stepped into the building. Whispers made their way through the room as everyone shared their first impressions of the mystery rider. The teacher merely quieted the class down and went on with her lecture.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Everyone looked up, waiting to see if it was 'The Rider'. They weren't disappointed. Stepping through the doorway, 'The Rider' handed a slip of paper to the teacher. Nodding once, she announced: "Class, this is Maron Trent." Then, facing Maron, she continued. "Feel free to sit anywhere there's an empty seat." Maron headed to the back corner, next to Faith. Cordy gave a snort of disgust, which was ignored as everyone watched Maron closely. The teacher cleared her throat, causing many to jump. "Where was I? Oh yes, the project." She handed out some sheets and went on. "As I was saying, you are to write a report on…" The students turned back to face her, listening to the project guidelines. Glancing up at the clock, she realized that class was almost over. "One more thing before class ends. You are to partner up for this project. Since I chose last time, you may make your own partners." She watched as everyone got into their regular pairs. Xander Harris and Willow Rosenburg. Jordan Smith and Wayne Taylors. Cordelia Chase, Buffy Summers and Faith Giles. With a sigh, the teacher headed over to the trio. "Girls?" All three looked up.

"What?" Cordy snapped, before changing her tone slightly. "Err… Yeah?"

"We now have enough an even number of people in this class. One of you will need to pair with Maron please." Buffy and Cordy began to complain immediately.

"Mrs. Gregg!" They whined. She waited patiently until they stopped before finishing.

"Girls. Now." The trio looked at each other questioningly, Cordelia silently commanding the other two to make a sacrifice for their leader.

"I will," Faith sighed.

"Good." Mrs. Gregg walked away. Stepping over her chair, the slayer approached Alexis.

"Hey," The new kid looked up as Faith sat facing them in the chair from the desk in front of theirs. "I'm Faith." Maron nodded, gazing down at the rubric on the desk between them. The bell rang then, and Mrs. Gregg called above the slamming of books and the scraping of chairs that they would have time tomorrow to work on their projects.

Faith stormed through the front doors of Sunnydale High, slightly annoyed, Maron had been in all 3 of her classes so far today, and each teacher had decided to assign a project, and each time, Faith had somehow gotten stuck with the new kid as her partner. The slayer slid a cigarette between her lips as she searched for her lighter. A cloud of smoke drifted past on the breeze, catching Faith's attention. She looked over and there, leaning against the wall, was Maron. Faith's eye twitched in irritation as she looked the nuisance over.

White blonde hair spiked straight up stood a good two, two and a half inches above her scalp. The black sunglasses had remained on all day. A diamond stud graced one ear, the other empty. A dark blue denim vest covered a tight, black, ripped sleeveless shirt that hugged her curves and ended just above the waist of a pair of form-fitting, faded blue jeans, revealing an inch of her flat, tanned stomach. A wide black belt with a large silver buckle adorned Maron's waist and black leather boots covered her feet. A silver men's watch encircled the left wrist, a studded band the right. A black tattoo wrapped around her left bicep, a few intertwining bands that randomly spiked up and down their arm. Two silver rings adorned the long fingers on her right hand, smoke curling lazily from the cigarette dangling between them.

Glaring, the slayer strode purposefully towards the new kid. When she stood right in front of Maron, Faith found she had to look up to see her face. With a sigh, Faith allowed the glare to become a squint against the sun. "Got a light?" Maron nodded slowly, reached into a pocket, pulled out a silver Zippo, flicked it and ignited the flame. The slayer lit the tip of the cigarette and inhaled deeply. She sat down on the steps and pulled a bottle of water out of her bag. Taking a long drink, she turned so her back was against the railing and looked up at Maron.

"So… What brings you to SunnyHell?" Maron shrugged, watching the brunette from behind the dark glasses. Already regretting the sudden urge to try and be friendly, Faith exhaled a lungful of smoke forcefully. As Maron began to stub out her smoke, a cold voice broke the uncomfortable silence between the two smokers.

"Faith? Where have you been? You're seriously cutting in on our gossip time. Let's go." Cordy's demanding tone irked the brunette, but she got up, recapping her bottle and grinding out her cigarette.

"Just borrowing a light." Cordelia appeared to notice the tall blonde for the first time and looked between the two suspiciously as Faith dusted off the back of her jeans.

"Fine. You borrowed, you lit, you smell disgusting. Let's get out of here." Faith slung her bag back over her shoulder and glanced back at Maron before following Cordy and the rest of her posse back inside. Maron lowered her sunglasses and gazed over top of them as Faith walked away. She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, moving to follow them only when the warning bell rang.

Maron entered the cool library and began wandering. She saw a large, leather bound volume on the table, the word VAMPYRE stamped on the front in raised letters Arching an eyebrow, she flipped through the pages, coughing lightly as a cloud of dust flew out. Footsteps echoed from in the stacks, betraying the presence of someone else. The someone ran down the stairs. "Y-yes? Err… Hello, um… ah, yes… you must be Ms. Trent?" Maron nodded.

"I guess that'd make you Rupert Giles then eh?" The librarian assessed the young teen from the spiked hair down to her boots.

"Y-you'll be needing your textbooks then?" Another nod. "Right. For what courses then?" Maron listed her new courses and accepted the corresponding textbooks. When they were finished, she headed from the library, lifting a hand in response to Giles' call of "err…well… see you tonight then?"

Alexis made her way to her new locker, arms full of books she would never use. She scanned the numbers until she reached where 427 should've been. Someone had spray-painted the words "Go Home, Freak!" in large black letters across the rusting surface of her locker door. Maron spun the dial warily and glanced inside. It was empty, except for a piece of paper that read "Welcome to Hell, enjoy your stay." She arched an eyebrow, tilted her head and stared curiously at the locker for a few moments more, then tossed the books inside and closed the door. When she looked up from her task, everyone in the hall was staring at her expectantly. The blonde merely shrugged, turned back down the hall and moved off to find some place to hang out for lunch.

Faith strolled through the front doors of SunnyHell high that afternoon, with only one thing on her mind. What had been done to Maron. Every new kid got some kind of trick pulled on them, Faith would've too, if she hadn't been snatched up by Cordy and her crew, and even though this certainly wasn't the worst thing they'd ever pulled, Faith couldn't shake the nagging feeling of guilt from her mind. Thankfully, the calm and indifference Maron had exhibitedhad earned her the privilege of being the talk of the school, and not in a bad way. Which, considering the alternative, being ignored for the rest of her high school life, may or may not be preferable, depending of course, on what was being said of you. Faith had gotten the feeling though, that it didn't matter if Maron was ignored or talked about for the rest of ever, she wouldn't really care. The slayer shook herself out of her thoughts, realizing that she had been standing at her car door for over a minute and was getting strange looks. She slid inside the red convertible, popped a CD into the player and sped out of the parking lot, rock music blaring from her speakers.

Faith shut off the car and hopped out, heading up the steps to the castle that housed the Sunnydale Watcher's Facility. She jogged through the doors and headed upstairs to change for her workout. She got about halfway up when a call from below stopped her. "Faith!" The brunette glanced over the railing and saw Giles standing on the main floor.  
"G-man!" She cried back, mounting the curved railing and sliding her way back down. "What can I do ya for?" Giles tsked disapprovingly.

"How many times must I ask you NOT to slide down the railing!" Faith shrugged, grinning cockily. Rolling his eyes, the watcher began to lead Faith towards the main room. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"A new potential?" Giles shook his head.

"The council thought so at first, as she seemed to… 'emit' the same 'aura' if you will," Faith smirked at Giles' use of air quotes, "but, after further research, they found she was merely a civilian. They viewed her lifestyle for a few days and the field operatives found that she is somewhat of a 'rouge demon fighter.' After careful deliberation, they decided that with proper training, she could become a valuable member of our 'team.'" Faith looked interested and sat down in a rather large, winged armchair.

"So where is this mystery girl?"

"She should be here any moment." The slayer nodded, settling back to await the arrival of the so called rouge demon fighter.

The front door slammed, causing both slayer and watcher to jump. Faith arched an eyebrow. "That her?" Giles nodded.

"Most likely." He left the room and came back a few seconds later with someone behind him. "Faith. I'd like you to meet Maron Trent. Maron, this is Faith, the one and only slayer. One girl in all the world-"

"We've met." Maron interrupted Giles before he got into the slayer speech. The watcher turned to face her.

"Ah… yes… At the school then?" Faith nodded dumbly, staring over Giles' shoulder at the blonde teen. "Faith, would you mind showing Maron to the top floor and giving her her choice of rooms?" The slayer nodded again, still staring at the girl.

The two reached the top floor and found a large duffel bag sitting there. The blonde picked it up, slinging it over one shoulder, and gazed at the slayer, face emotionless. "Err… we've got all the rooms on this floor open, except for mine." Faith gestured towards the first door on their left. A large silver 'F' sat in the middle of it, matching perfectly with the silver handle. Both were set against the dark grain of the mahogany door. Maron arched an eyebrow and moved slowly down the hallway. Faith followed uncertainly, keeping several feet back. She noticed the grace with which the blonde seemed to move, even carrying the huge duffel over one arm.

Maron stopped at the last door in the hall, opened it, and stepped through. Faith entered the room a few moments later to find her staring out the window. The duffel lay on the double bed but the rest of the furniture remained in dusty solitude. After standing in silence for a few seconds, the slayer cleared her throat nervously. Maron turned slowly from the window to stare at the brunette. She wore the same black expression on her face. "Look," Faith began, not really knowing why she was about to apologize. "About today-" Maron cut her off.

"Doesn't matter, don't care."

"Bu-"

"Jus' drop it alrigh'? It takes more than a li'l hazing to bother me." The slayer swallowed, nodding as she noticed Maron's accent for the first time. It was so much like those of the watchers, but held a bit of Australian, and something else… Scottish, maybe Irish?

"So…we cool then?" The blonde cocked that eyebrow again.

"Mmm… nope."

"What! Why!" She shrugged.

"Somethin' to do I guess." Faith rolled her eyes and left the room, hearing the door close behind her.

The slayer was still muttering about self-righteous, British, slayer-wanna-be's when she headed for the Bronze. Her convertible roared to life, headlights flared against the rapidly darkening night. She sped down the driveway, gravel flying.


End file.
